Article
Details
Citation
Oliver D, Bartie P, Heathwaite AL, Pschetz L & Quilliam R (2017) Design of a decision support tool for visualising E. coli risk on agricultural land using a stakeholder-driven approach. Land Use Policy, 66, pp. 227-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.05.005
Abstract
Enabling knowledge exchange between scientists and decision-makers is becoming increasingly necessary to promote the development of effective decision-support tools (DSTs) for environmental management. Participation of stakeholders in the design process beyond a basic level of consultation is essential for promoting trust in modelled outputs and accelerating eventual uptake of resulting tools and models by end-user communities. This study outlines the development of a DST to visualise and communicate the spatial and temporal patterns ofE. coli(a faecal indicator organism) on agricultural land, as a first step in managing microbial pollution risks to the wider environment. A participatory approach was used to engage regulators, catchment managers, environmental scientists, farmers and farm advisors, researchers in geospatial technologies and water industry staff in the co-design of a novel, user-friendly and accessible DST for guiding on-farm microbial risk assessment. Recommendations for maximising the benefits of a participatory process to DST design are discussed with reference to a series of opportunities and limitations identified by our stakeholder cohort during the development of the Visualising Pathogen & Environmental Risk (ViPER) DST. The resulting toolkit provides environmental managers and farm advisors with one of the first freely-available DSTs for visualising patterns ofE. coliinputs to pasture in space and time, and begins to address the lack of advisory tools currently available for informing decision-making with respect to managing microbial risks in agricultural systems.
Keywords
Diffuse pollution; Environmental risk; Faecal indicator organism; Participatory research; Stakeholder engagement
Journal
Land Use Policy: Volume 66
Status | Published |
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Funders | Natural Environment Research Council |
Publication date | 31/07/2017 |
Publication date online | 12/05/2017 |
Date accepted by journal | 05/05/2017 |
URL | http://hdl.handle.net/1893/25341 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
ISSN | 0264-8377 |
People (2)
Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences
Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences